Marc Taconet of the FAO Gives a Public Lecture at Dalhousie University

The EIUI was pleased to invite Mr. Marc Taconet of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to participate in the Dalhousie University Information Management Public Lectures series on 8 October 2015. Mr. Taconet is the Chief of the Statistics and Information Branch of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of FAO and […]

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EIUI Participates in the 41st IAMSLIC Conference

Suzuette Soomai, PhD Candidate and a member of the EIUI research program, participated in the 41st International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC) Annual Conference, “Blue Growth: Motivating innovations in aquatic information management,” hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, on September […]

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EIUI Team Members Present Paper at Historical Conference

Two members of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research team, James Ross and Bertrum MacDonald, presented the paper “The Generation and Regeneration of Scientific Literature: The Case of State of the Environment Reports” at the 23rd international conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing in Montreal on 9 July. Presented in […]

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EIUI Student James Ross Receives Research Award

James Ross, a graduate student who completed his Master’s thesis within the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program, received the 2015 Research Prize awarded by the School of Information Management. This prize is awarded to a graduating student who has demonstrated significant success in research and was announced at the Spring Convocation on 26 […]

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What Do Users Want From a State of the Environment Report? An EIUI Study of the State of the Scotian Shelf Report

Over forty years ago, the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment proclaimed that decision-makers require access to the best available scientific information to achieve effective environmental management (United Nations, 1972). To fill this need, various governments and inter-governmental partnerships have produced many state of the environment reports (SOEs), which present current scientific understanding […]

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New EIUI Paper on How Information in Grey Literature Informs Policy and Decision-Making

A new paper published by members of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) research team emphasizes that simply advocating the use of information without understanding the contexts of its use will likely be ineffective in closing the gap between research and policy-making. As the growing number of studies on the science-policy interface demonstrate, the […]

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Is Demonstrating the “Bottom Line” of the Oceans More Effective Than Scientific Information in Influencing Global Change?

The World Wildlife Fund’s recent report, Reviving the Ocean Economy: The Case for Action – 2015, positions the world’s oceans with major global powers (Hoegh-Goldberg et al., 2015). The oceans are ranked as the seventh-largest economy on the planet – as if combined they were a country. The numbers are staggering: WWF conservatively estimates that […]

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Using Information: Models and Influential Factors

Research based information is important in decision and policy making, and problem management. Understanding how information is used offers an opportunity to improve these aspects of decision making and the inclusion of different networks. Models, framing, structure, and knowledge systems are all components that influence how research-based information is used and are explored below. Considering […]

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Information Flows and Social Media: Effect on Evidence-Based Policy Making

Social media plays a complex role in the development of evidence-based policy. Many have suggested that sites like Facebook and Twitter have created a new online public sphere, where open debate can lead to a strengthened democracy, improved community ties, and decision making (Merry, 2014). In reality, the effect of social media is not so […]

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Coastal Web Atlases in Policy and Decision-Making: An EIUI Study

With over 10,000 km of coastline, Nova Scotia is undeniably a coastal province. Numerous activities occur within the coastal zone making it a highly valuable area for many Nova Scotians. For this reason, numerous stakeholders are involved with studying and making decisions about various aspects and activities that occur in the coastal zones around the […]

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